The low structural damping characteristics of a large slender tower crane leads to challenges with respect to vibrations and structural failure risk due to external load excitation. The finite element method is often used for dynamic analysis of tower crane jib, while a model‑order reduction technique with advantages is rarely studied and applied to this engineering field. With the reduced-order model, the essential cause of system dynamic characteristics and the physical meaning of key control parameters can be revealed in an intuitive way. Therefore, a novel and competitive reduced-order model of large slender tower crane jib was introduced and was well-suited for the complex truss structure with multiple flexible beams in this study. In this work, we were concerned with the equivalent continuum modeling procedure for the large slender tower crane jib with asymmetric configuration and analysis of coupling vibration characteristics, aiming to focus more on potential studies of nonlinear vibration and vibration control. First, the equivalent anisotropic continuum beam model for tower crane jib with oblique triangular prism configuration was established by means of energy equivalence formulation. Subsequently, an equivalent 6-DOFs coupled beam model, including multiple and complex coupling terms, was solved by the finite element method, leading to reduced-order representation. In the numerical studies, a cantilevered truss structure of a large slender tower crane jib was simulated by commercial finite element software ANSYS to check the accuracy and validity of the proposed reduced-order model. The results, including the natural characteristic and dynamic response of the proposed reduced-order model, were presented by comparison with those of the finite element model for the original tower crane jib, indicating that the established reduced-order model is valid. Moreover, the coupled vibration characteristics were studied between the reduced-order model and original tower crane jib, indicating that the coupled vibration strength is weak.
Citation: Mei Liu, Lishan Ma, Huaqiang Ge, Xiaoyun Zhang, Zunbing Sheng. Reduced-order modeling and comparative dynamic analysis of large slender tower crane jib[J]. Electronic Research Archive, 2026, 34(12): 9230-9249. doi: 10.3934/era.2026388
The low structural damping characteristics of a large slender tower crane leads to challenges with respect to vibrations and structural failure risk due to external load excitation. The finite element method is often used for dynamic analysis of tower crane jib, while a model‑order reduction technique with advantages is rarely studied and applied to this engineering field. With the reduced-order model, the essential cause of system dynamic characteristics and the physical meaning of key control parameters can be revealed in an intuitive way. Therefore, a novel and competitive reduced-order model of large slender tower crane jib was introduced and was well-suited for the complex truss structure with multiple flexible beams in this study. In this work, we were concerned with the equivalent continuum modeling procedure for the large slender tower crane jib with asymmetric configuration and analysis of coupling vibration characteristics, aiming to focus more on potential studies of nonlinear vibration and vibration control. First, the equivalent anisotropic continuum beam model for tower crane jib with oblique triangular prism configuration was established by means of energy equivalence formulation. Subsequently, an equivalent 6-DOFs coupled beam model, including multiple and complex coupling terms, was solved by the finite element method, leading to reduced-order representation. In the numerical studies, a cantilevered truss structure of a large slender tower crane jib was simulated by commercial finite element software ANSYS to check the accuracy and validity of the proposed reduced-order model. The results, including the natural characteristic and dynamic response of the proposed reduced-order model, were presented by comparison with those of the finite element model for the original tower crane jib, indicating that the established reduced-order model is valid. Moreover, the coupled vibration characteristics were studied between the reduced-order model and original tower crane jib, indicating that the coupled vibration strength is weak.
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Figures(8) / Tables(3)
Mei Liu, Lishan Ma, Huaqiang Ge, Xiaoyun Zhang, Zunbing Sheng. Reduced-order modeling and comparative dynamic analysis of large slender tower crane jib[J]. Electronic Research Archive, 2026, 34(12): 9230-9249. doi: 10.3934/era.2026388
The prototype of the tower crane system [35]
Structure of the large slender tower crane jib
Cartesian coordinate system in the lattice element
Finite element discretization of the equivalent continuum model
Mode shape comparisons of the tower crane jib and its reduced-order model: (a) 1st order bending mode, (b) 2nd order bending mode, (c) 3rd order bending mode, (d) 4th order bending mode, (e) 5th order torsional mode, and (f) 6th order bending mode
Z-direction dynamic response comparisons of the tower crane jib and its reduced-order model: (a) External excitation with magnitude $ {F}_{0} = 100 \hspace{0.17em}\text{N} $, $ f = 0.5\hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz} $, and position $ x = l $, (b) External excitation with magnitude $ {F}_{0} = 100 \hspace{0.17em}\text{N} $, $ f = 0.5\hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz} $, and position $ x = \frac{1}{2}l $, (c) External excitation with magnitude $ {F}_{0} = 200\hspace{0.17em}\text{N} $, $ f = 0.5\hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz} $, and position $ x = l $, and (d) External excitation with magnitude $ {F}_{0} = 100\hspace{0.17em}\text{N} $, $ f = 1 \hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz} $, and position $ x = l $
Y-direction dynamic response comparisons of the tower crane jib and its reduced-order model: (a) External excitation with magnitude $ {F}_{0} = 100 \hspace{0.17em}\text{N} $, $ f = 0.5 \hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz} $, and position $ x = l $, (b) External excitation with magnitude $ {F}_{0} = 100\hspace{0.17em}\text{N} $, $ f = 0.5 \hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz} $, and position $ x = \frac{1}{2}l $, (c) External excitation with magnitude $ {F}_{0} = 200\hspace{0.17em}\text{N} $, $ f = 0.5\hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz} $, and position $ x = l $, and (d) External excitation with magnitude $ {F}_{0} = 100\hspace{0.17em}\text{N} $, $ f = 1 \hspace{0.17em}\text{Hz} $, and position $ x = l $
First six orders of the tower crane jib: (a) 1st order bending mode, (b) 2nd order bending mode, (c) 3rd order bending mode, (d) 4th order bending mode, (e) 5th order torsional mode, and (f) 6th order bending mode
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